Graduation, Marauder's Style
by macawtopia
Summary: They did it. The Marauders and Lily survived their NEWTs and now all they've got left is making it through the year's biggest dorm party, prank, irrational female crisis and, hardest of all, they've got to say goodbye to Hogwarts forever... A sequel to Hey Diddle Diddle
1. Almost There

Dedicated to anyone who's graduating this year =]

*""*

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh….

There were exactly four and a half minutes left for the NEWT level students to finish writing their final exam of the year, and it was so quiet that every time the giant golden pendulum at the front of the Great Hall swung, the sound of it cutting through the air reverberated like thunder. The only other sounds that could be heard were Proffessor Binn's occasional coughing, the scratching of a few lingering quills, and the distant song of birds enjoying the sunshine.

Whoosh, whoosh, _whoosh…_

Two minutes. Even Lily had stopped reviewing her essay on the history of Irish vampires and was staring desperately at her watch. James, who was sitting a mere two desks right of her, noticed this and smirked: when Lily Evans was no longer paying any attention to her paper, than the exam was officially over. And as this was _the final_ NEWT exam… all of the year's slogging was _also_ over.

One minute. Half a minute. Twenty seconds. Ten seconds.

Unable to resist, James whispered a soft, "Ten."

His immediate neighbors, including Lily, heard him and joined to whisper the next number as the pendulum swung again, "Nine." She caught James's eye and he winked at her with a grin. This time last year Lily would never have dared to speak aloud or even _look_ directly at anyone else during a final, she had been that prim. So, James almost laughed when she winked back at him.

They had whispered loud enough for several others to hear, including the remaining Marauders, who added their voices to, "Eight."

"Seven."

"Six." They were no longer whispering but spoke in a strong unison. Over half of the room had joined into their countdown, and most of the remaining quiet ones were either still frantically scribbling or Slytherins.

"Five." Less than a handful of students did not speak. They were now a loud chorus that even Professor Binns couldn't remain oblivious to.

"Four!" Even louder.

"Three!" _Everyone _was in it now, Binns included.

"_Two!_" Still louder, they were practically shouting.

"_ONE!_"

Deafening. The bell signalling the end of the exam must have rang, and the papers must have made shuffling noises as they collected themselves, but neither of these sounds could be heard over the jubilant, uproarious cheering of the seventh years that literally _shook_ the Great Hall's many windows.

Somehow, amidst the chaos of screaming, jumping and group-hugging teens, Lily managed to locate her two best friends Alice and Geeta. "Let's Go," she mouthed, knowing that attempting to speak would be futile, "Before someone gets hurt..."

Her two friends silently nodded, and then the three of them maneuvered their way towards the hall's massive wooden doors.

*""*

With their NEWT's finally over, you'd think that the only thing the seventh years would want to do would be to lounge about and relax… but if you did hold this opinion, you couldn't be more wrong. For the Gryffindors at least, the real excitement was not over. Rather, it was about to begin…

This was because of an ancient and sacred Gryffindor tradition, which was as old as the school itself and equally magnificent: the NEWT student's exclusive, don't-stop-till-dawn dorm party that would take place that night.

Now, no one really _knew_ what made this dorm party so much bigger and more infamous than normal dorm parties, but there were as many theories as there were secret passages at Hogwarts:

Perhaps it was because of the rather exaggerated stories about it that younger students had heard from their older siblings… or maybe it was all of the loud and strange noises that could be heard coming from the common room during these parties. Or _maybe_ it was because of that incident in third year, when the younger students had gone downstairs the day after the party to find the seventh years completely wasted, nifflers scurrying about and rapidly collecting the numerous shiny bottles that littered the floor, and the statue of the one eyed witch floating aimlessly over everyone's heads and cackling something about butterflies and the meaning of life.

Lily's personal theory was that the party simply _couldn't_ be as amazing as everyone thought it was, and that the only reason why her friends were so excited about it was that they hadn't been allowed before: The seventh years were always very meticulous about not letting anyone underage in. James's theory was that it was going to be the most diddling awesome experience of his young life.

Either way, right after the History of Magic Exam was finished the only thing that was on any of the Gryffindor seventh year's minds was getting ready. Sirius reminded James and Remus of this by practically pouncing on them as soon as he spotted them, "_There_ you two are! Are you all set to do this?" He looked practically giddy in his glee.

In response, Remus raised an eyebrow, "I'm almost afraid to ask, but all set to do _what_ exactly?"

Sirius rolled his eyes as the three of them exited the emptying hall, "For Wormtail to hit puberty, Moony."

"_Very_ funny, Padfoot. " Remus replied tetchily, adjusting the strap of his book bag, "Now _what_ were – "

"What he meant, Moony," James cut in, "Was are you ready for our little _fieldtrip_?" He coupled his words with a not-so-subtle eyebrow raise, and Remus caught on, "Ah, that."

But Peter, who had finally managed to find them, was still rather confused at this, "Field trip?"

"Yeah _fieldtrip_. To pick up some vital _supplies_ for tonight." Sirius said, pulling the map out of his bag and thinking that he was making himself quite clear.

Peter blinked at him, "Supplies?... Are we going camping again?"

The other three boys groaned, "No, Peter!" Remus exclaimed, looking somewhat distressed, "Dear Merlin, _no_. Never again."

Sirius frowned at the werewolf, "Hang on, I thought you had _fun_ on that trip, Moony! I mean, we had our own little corner of the forest all to ourselves, and spending all that time together really helped us to, er…. _bond_."

James grinned, "Yup, we really learned some _valuable_ lessons about each other that night. Speaking of which, Remus… have you, er, told Geeta about your unhealthy obsession with _Celestina Warback_ yet?"

A darkish-red colour started to rise up the back of Remus's neck, "I was _drunk_, Prongs. Singing –"

"It was more belting, actually."

"Alright, _belting_ a Celestina Warback song to a tree-"

"In your boxers."

"_Gah_! _Fine_! Belting a Celestina Warback song to a tree _in my boxers_ does _not_ make me obsessed with her!"

Sirius snickered, "Actually Remus, your obsession with Celestina was probably the _least_ concerning development in your behaviour that night."

Remus glowered, "Hey, it was a _very_ feminine looking tree… In the right sort of light, it could _totally_ pass for a girl…"

"Okay, Remmy." James said, grinning, "Okay."

"Whatever lets you sleep at night, Moon-pie," Sirius added, patting Remus on the head.

"Gotta say, though, I _really_ don't envy your taste in women, Remmy. _Or_ in music."

Remus frowned, "_Careful_, Potter: the full moon's coming up. Don't make me have to disembowel you."

And then they all had to laugh at James's subsequent and dramatic fake death scene. Right after he had finished his final bout of gagging though, Sirius got serious, "Alright guys, we've _really_ gotta go now: we promised to pick up Frank from the station as soon as we could."

James, who had been sprawled on the ground, jumped up at this, and Remus nodded, "Right. Excellent. Anything to get the subject off that _night_."

"I still don't get what you're so hung up on," Sirius remarked as they made their way to the closest entrance to Hogsmeade, "I think that camping was a _perfectly_ fun experience. You know, until those bleeding gargantuan _spiders_ showed up…"

"_Fun_? Padfoot, you scarred me for life. I mean, _Merlin,_ I was only fifteen! And there were so. Many. _Ducks_..."

"Get over it Moony – that night was diddle _awesome_!"

"And tonight's gonna be even _better_."

*""*

Well. This is awkward. It's been a while you see, and I don't really remember the protocol for these Author's Note things... So, erm, Hi! How you doin'? Fantastic, I'm doing great as well =]

Ahem. So, this is the Threequel and official conclusion to the Hey Diddle Diddle series, but it's not going to be _nearly_ as long as the first two- only a few chapters. And you don't really _have_ to have read the first two to understand it - all you need to know is that Snape did something terrible, that Lily and James are already together, and that Geeta is a girl who's dating Remus.

Anyways, it's going to be funny! And fluffy! So, I hope you enjoy it, and leave a review if you've the time =]


	2. Partay!

Despite Geeta and Alice both offering to curl Lily's long, dark red tresses for her, she had opted to simply twist her hair up into an elegant French knot. Her friends _had_, however, managed to persuade her to put on some rudimentary make-up. Alice, who had discovered her passion for dressing up at around age two, helped her to apply some mascara and just a hint of eyeliner, and her lips were stained just a shade darker than usual. As for blush, Alice figured that Lily would manage that fine all on her own once James laid his eyes on her.

Geeta was the one who Alice got to have the real fun on, with a rich red lipstick, dramatic smoky eyes and her hair a mess of glossy curls piled into a gorgeous updo. As for Alice herself, she took a little extra care to look beautiful as well. Frank had owled her a few weeks prior that the Marauders were going to help him sneak into the school for the party, and she had been all aflutter ever since.

Lily's dress was also rather subdued – at least, Geeta and Alice certainly seemed to think so. It was a pale emerald green, jewel neckline, no sleeves and a knee-length skirt in a silk-like material that had been crafted – so the shopkeeper had said – by forest elves. Her only accessories were a gold-inlaid porcelain barrette shaped like a lily that her grandmother had bought her, the same golden strappy heel s that she had borrowed from Geeta for the winter ball, and the tiny golden flower earrings that James had bought her for her birthday.

After the three girls had gotten ready, they debated whether or not they should go down to the common room early over a game of exploding snap:

"It would _sure_ beat waiting in our room," Geeta argued as she dealed a new round of cards, "Besides, we could help to set everything up."

Lily threw down her first card to begin the game, "Set _what_ up? I'd assumed that the boys were just getting some food from the kitchens, and the only other requirement for dorm parties is usually some loud music…"

"You _knew_ that the boys would sneak into the kitchens?" Alice asked, laughing as she played her turn, "And you didn't turn them in? Tsk tsk, you're losing your touch, Head Girl."

Lily shrugged, "I wanted there to be food at the party."

"So you value _food_ over the rules now, huh? Very Interesting, Evans. Or should I say _Potter_?" Geeta grinned slyly."

"Hey! I –"

"Face it Lily – that _is_ a pretty James-y thing to say. He's turned you in a regular _hoodlum,_" Alice sniggered, "A ne'er-do-well."

Geeta laughed as well, quickly playing her card before the deck exploded on her, "He sure has. I mean, have you _seen_ her snogging James in the library? It's shameful."

"Oh, hush up," Lily retorted, sticking her nose in the air pompously, "Or I'll give you _both_ detentions."

"Don't you _wish_ that you could hand out–"Alice started, but was cut off by Geeta pointing to the cards and screeching, "Lily, play something!"

The redhead did as she was told and threw down a card. The deck was beginning to glow redder and redder, emitting little sparks as it grew more agitated, so the girls stopped their conversation for a moment and concentrated on the game. By the time they had finished the round, it was time to go down.

*""*

Now, James had been on his best behaviour for most of the year, taking his Head duties very seriously and preventing the other Marauders… well, mainly Sirius, from causing any major mayhem whenever he could. But now that exams were finally over, the four boys decided that they simply couldn't let graduation pass without at least a _little_ prank. After all, they were the _Marauders_: they had to uphold their title and remind the other students exactly what they were capable of.

But what would they do? They knew that it would have to be something more special than their usual, so during the weeks prior to their NEWT's, Sirius and James had put together a list of potential ideas:

_Operation End the Year with Something __Diddle __Legendary_

- Fireworks (SO overdone)

- Blow up the Whomping Willow – Moony won't need it anymore, and the tree's a diddle pain in the _arse_…

- Hex the Slytherins so that they can't stop singing Celestina Warback songs (just like you, Moon -Pie!)

- Hex the Slytherins so that their robes turn red pink and fluffy (and then grow teeth and try and eat them…)

- Hex the Slytherins so that they sing Celestina Warback songs _and_ turn pink and fluffy

- Carve MWPP on the wall outside the Slytherin Common Room. In red. Ensure that it can _never_ be removed and that it insults anyone who has the gall to try

- Wage a dung-bomb war on the professors, and ask Peeves to aid our side

- Why are all of our ideas so _pathetic?_

- Prongs! How _dare_ you write that on our list!

- Well it's true!

- … that's irrelevant

But finally, after days of straining their minds to decide on what to do, Sirius had it. And though it had taken quite a bit of effort and time to plan, they were just about done in time for the party. Their finished project was rather impressive too, and as James looked over their handiwork he found himself sniggering to himself: Lily was going to _freak_.

*""*

When Lily entered the Common Room, she was taken aback: in the time it took for the girls to finish their card game, it had been completely transformed by golden and red balloons, streamers, fairies, a wizard radio and loud speakers, _and_ a large collection of very well dressed seventh years. On a table at the back of the room was a table holding some scrumptious looking horde 'oeuvres from the Hogwarts, as well as an assortment of wizarding sweets – a dish of freshly baked cauldron cakes and pumpkin pasties in particular caught Lily's eye - that looked as if they had come straight from Honeydukes. There was even, Lily noticed with a tiny smile, a bowl containing the very same pepper imps she had tried to eat with James when they had first spent time together at Hogsmeade.

In addition, there were several mugs of steaming butterbeer, magically kept at the proper temperature until a consumer started drinking, an assortment of punch bowls containing pumkin juices and cocktails, and a rather large amount of red, green and blue glass bottles containing, Lily was almost certain, Rosmerta's finest firewhisky, oak matured mead and elf-made wines.

The Marauders - who had not been seen since the exam - were not down yet, but to Alice's delight, Frank had arrived early and was waiting right at the foot of the stairs. She literally flew into his arms the moment he gave her one of his shy little waves, and when she leaned in for a kiss, Lily and Geeta decided to discreetly excuse themselves. In the few seconds that this took alone, the population of the room increased dramatically. In practically no time at all there were students _everywhere_. That was when the candles and lights that lit up the room were magically dimmed down. Everyone was confused for a moment, wondering what had happened, when a loud voice came down from the top of the stairs to the boy's dorms: "_Gryffindors_. Are you ready to get this party started?"

They all looked up to see who had spoken, including Lily, though she had a pretty good idea who it was. And she was right: There, standing at the top of the steps with his wand pressed to his neck, and a devilishly handsome grin on his face, was Sirius Black. Always the rebel, he was wearing a black, muggle style dress shirt with ripped jeans, but even so Lily could see several of the other witches in the room visibly swoon. Then the other three Marauders stepped out from behind him and for some reason, all of them were wearing particularly mischievous expressions - the sort that never failed to make Lily feel rather nervous.

The Gryffindors all let out a cheer for their self-proclaimed heroes, and the Marauders bounded down the sound of a roomful of roaring seventeen year olds. Somehow, the music got turned up at that point, and Sirius began dancing enthusiastically (and admittedly, rather well) in the centre of the room. If anyone else had dared to start dancing so early on, they would most likely have been left alone, but as things were, pretty much everyone was dancing within the next five minutes, including Geeta who happily dragged her reluctant werewolf onto the dance floor.

"And so it begins," Lily murmured softly. For a moment, she was unsure of exactly what to do: she almost never attended dorm parties… at least, not the wild ones. And right now the party _was_ starting to get a bit crazy: the seventh years were already rather high off of being done with exams, firewhisky and the dim lighting, and they were showing it through rather provocative dancing, crude jokes and loud laughter. Lily found herself growing less and less comfortable, but then James noticed her and rushed right over. "_Lily_! There you are."

She offered him a weak smile as he escorted her to a quieter, better lit area of the room by the fire, saying, "Hi James…. Thanks for finding me."

"No problem! So what's the matter?"

Lily blushed slightly, "What do you – I mean, nothing, everythings – "

But James didn't let her finish, "Lily, you _know_ you can't lie. What's up?"

"Well," she started hesitantly, "I suppose I was feeling a tad out of place."

"You looked it too."

This took Lily completely by surprise. Feeling a little hurt, she glared at the messy haired boy, "_What_? You didn't have to – "

"_Oi_! Let me finish, will you?" James cut her off, laughing, "I was saying that you look out of place because you've got _way_ too much class for this sort of party. _But_… I'm sure that we can still find _some_ way to have a bit of fun…"

This finally got Lily to smile: James always seemed to know exactly what to say. He usually knew exactly what to _do_ as well, and was gently pulling her in closer for a kiss when the life and soul of the party himself – Sirius Black – bounded over.

Now, Sirius had been deeply depressed for months after the Heather incident, so much so that James thought he'd _never_ get over it. But then, almost overnight, he was. The other Marauders hadn't understood the drastic change, until finally Remus built up the nerve to ask him about it a few weeks ago.

Rather than responding instantly to Remus's inquiry, Sirius had remained silent for a moment. A _long_ moment. But just when the others had decided that it was time to tactfully change the subject, he had slowly murmured, "I _suppose_ what happened was…. I realized that… well, that yeah she's gone, but _I'm_ still here. I'm still young, and I've got a _whole_ life to make or break: it's all in my hands. Life is an opportunity, mates, and I know that she wouldn't want me to waste it feeling sorry for myself. So… I won't."

James had never felt more proud to call Sirius his best friend. But he had to make a _real_ effort to remind himself of why he liked him so much, as Sirius killed the moment he was having with Lily: "Hey _Prongs!_ I – Oh, _hi_ Lily!"

*""*

My apologies for cutting it off rather abruptly, but that's just how it worked out =P

Thanks for reading!


	3. Confusion

James had never felt more proud to call Sirius his best friend. But he had to make a _real_ effort to remind himself of why he liked him so much, as Sirius killed the moment he was having with Lily: "Hey _Prongs!_ I – Oh, _hi_ Lily!"

Lily tried to hide her irritation, but even so, her following words came out in a sort of low grumble, "Hello Sirius."

Sirius grinned at her, and then looked her up and down, "Well, well," he said, his smile becoming rather teasing, "You clean up well, Miss Evans. In fact, you look far too attractive to be with my unsightly _ragamuffin_ of a comrade here tonight."

He paused to look James up and down as well, raising an eyebrow, and Lily had to hide the laugh that followed with a fake cough. James supressed his own laughter as well, and pretended to glower at his handsome friend, "_Hey_! Watch who you call a muffin_, _you _donut_!"

Rolling his eyes, Sirius chose to ignore this comment and address Lily instead, "_Right_. On that note, I'm afraid I'm going to have to steal my donut away from you, _sexy_ – (Here Sirius flashed Lily with his trademark come-on grin and James bristled) - We've got a… project to work on."

"What sort of – "Lily started to say, but James cut in, "What do you _mean_, Padfoot? We already finished planning Operation… I mean, our _project._"

Much as she tried to supress it, the Head Girl in Lily was starting to get suspicious, "_Operation_? As in... a _prank_?"

"No, no, no… nothing of the kind," Sirius drawled with a little smirk, "Now Prongs, are you coming? It's sort of an emergency."

Glancing at Lily with reluctance, James gave in, "_Alright_. I'll be back soon, Lily." And with that he followed Sirius up to their dorm room. Alone again, Lily found herself at a loss of what to do. With a sigh, she admitted to herself that James was right – she didn't belong here at all. Still, she figured that it wouldn't hurt to at least _try_ and enjoy herself.

*""*

"Personally, I can't _wait_ to get out of here. Seven years of the same thing can be really taxing on a person, especially a person like me!"

"I know exactly what you mean. I am sick and tired of doing schoolwork all of the time. Give me a job out there _anyday_."

"Don't forget all of the _rules_ we have to follow here! It's insane…"

"What I'm looking forward to is the freedom. _Imagine_ being able to go wherever you want whenever you want!"

"And waking up at noon! And having your own personal _bathroom_:"

"What about you, Lily? Are you excited to leave Hogwarts?"

Lily looked up at the person who had addressed her: a blonde girl whom she didn't know very well named Laverne. The girl was beaming at her, positively _elated_ by the prospect of graduating, but rather than sharing her enthusiasm, Lily felt her stomach knot up, "Er, I suppose. It will certainly be a change…"

But none of the others in the conversation seemed to notice her off mood. Instead, they merely dismissed her as a bore and continued without paying her any mind. Not that Lily cared: her thoughts were elsewhere.

_Graduating_. Up until now she had never really equated the word with leaving Hogwarts forever. To leaving the wondrous and magical place that had helped her blossom from a shy, bookish, friendless and rather lonely little girl into a strong young woman. Lily _loved_ Hogwarts, almost more than her own home: it was where she had proved herself by working her way to the top of her class, where she had met her two best friends in the world and… it was where she had found James. In short, for the last seven years, Hogwarts had been her life.

And her future was uncertain. Acceptances for the Auror training program weren't coming out until the following week, and if she didn't get accepted… she simply didn't know what she would do. Moreover, her friends would all be going their separate ways: Geeta was going to try out for the Holyhead Harpies, as she figured that people needed some entertaining and amazing Quidditch to get their minds off of the dark times ahead, and Alice was going to become a healer at St. Mungos, caring for the many casualties that poured in every day. And James… Lily knew that he wanted to become an Auror as well, but even if they both made it they wouldn't be spending as much time together anymore: they'd be too busy risking their lives to save others.

Suddenly Lily didn't have the willpower to continue pretending to enjoy the party: she was surrounded by teenagers who were celebrating the very thing that she dreaded. What business did they have anyway, drinking and dancing at a time like this? During a _war_?

Lily needed air. She abruptly excused herself from the group she was with and left the common room to take a walk around the school she was finally going to have to say goodbye to.

*""*

After finally getting the last touches for their plans in order, the Marauders slipped back into the party. They were almost instantly mobbed by a throng of other students. who pulled them into a massive and rather convoluted wizarding party game which was rather like a cross between exploding snap, seven minutes in heaven, dueling and truth or dare.

Pretty much everyone in the room was either stone drunk, passed out or literally shaking from their highs, and their crazy antics – along with their ability to perform magic, had turned the room upside down. Students were soaring by the magically elevated ceiling and playing catch with what looked suspiciously like a puffskein, someone's set of gobstones had spilled out onto the floor and dancers were slipping and falling in the purple goop that had spurted everywhere, every dark corner –including under the tables - contained at least two couples who were either slow dancing to their own beat or snogging each other's brains out, and someone had replenished the butterbeer and firewhiskey by at least a hundred fold: there were now massive cauldrons of each beverage sitting by the common room entrance.

Needless to say, the Marauders were in their element.

Sirius cast a spell on the firewhisky cauldron so that a fountain of the stuff erupted and spilled directly into his mouth. Then he launched himself into the wizard party games, as somewhere in his now rather hazy mind he had decided that it was his duty to win them all. Remus was dragged right back onto the dance floor by a rather incoherent Geeta, but didn't really mind as she was still just about the best dancer in the room. Moreover, whenever a song she didn't really like was on, she pulled him in for a good snog. As for James, he took a few swigs of butterbeer, realizing only after he'd had two hefty mug-fulls that it tasted rather strong….

_Aw __**diddle**__, there must have been some cross contamination with the firewhisky!_

James sighed as he felt the buzz growing stronger: he had hoped to avoid ending up like Sirius, who was now shirt, sock and shoe-less, and attempting to use his rather iffy knowledge of evolution to transfigure a duck back into the dinosaur it had originated from. James decided to leave the madness to seek out his girlfriend while he was still capable of rational thought, but then one of the boys circling the ceiling caught his eye: "Hey, Warren!" He found himself shouting up, "Is that _my broom_ you're flying?"

The brown haired boy waved down to him, laughing, "_Yeah_! And it's _way_ better than mine, mate. Wanna come up and join us? My broom's over there… next to the sleeping goat."

James hesitated momentarily, then grabbed the boy's broom, "Alright sure, I'll come up. But you better…." He trailed off, forgetting what he had been saying mid-sentence. He tried to think, but became distracted by the fact that everything had started to look rather fuzzy…

Confused, James checked to make sure his glasses were in fact on his face… and most mystifyingly, they were. But _what_ had he been _saying_… "Oh _yeah_! Warren, you'd better trade brooms with me when I get there."

And so James flew (rather shakily) up to reclaim his broom. In no time flat he had turned the boys' little game of catch into a full out Quidditch match, his drink addled mind deciding that it would be a good idea for the doorways to the girl's and boy's dorm rooms to be used as the goals, and that the lot of them should take a shot every time a goal was scored.

*""*

Severus Snape could not fall asleep, and it was entirely the fault of – who else – the _Gryffindors_. They were having their ridiculous, annual graduation party again and as usual, their ultimate goal seemed to be making as much noise as was humanly possible. Of course, the loud music and shouting coming from their tower couldn't actually be heard from the dungeons, but they kept on making noisy trips to the kitchens (it was honestly a wonder they didn't get caught), and one crazy group of them had left the common room to roam the halls on brooms in a massive game of wizard-hunt. Their whoops of laughter, and the sounds of loud crashes echoed throughout the school, and the cavernous stone halls of the dungeons magnified them until they were unbearable. Snape's first impulse when this happened was to simply cast a soundproofing spell on his dorm, but then one shout in particular caught his ear: someone had loudly called, "Oh _Merlin_, what a save. That was _brilliant_, James!"

_**Potter**__?_ _The Head Boy's flying through the corridors on a broom, destroying school property and drunk as a skunk more likely than not? Well, that just can't be allowed to continue, now can it?_

And so, Snape decided that it was his responsibility as a good, rule abiding student of Hogwarts to inform a professor of James' antics. To that end, he began hurrying through the dungeons towards Professor Slughorn's apartments. And that was when he heard something else, something that stopped him dead in his tracks. It had been so quiet that Snape had almost missed it over the sounds of the revelry on the floor above, but once he'd heard it he _instantly_ recognized it: Lily Evans was crying in the spare Potions room.

Carefully peeking in the room from which the sound emerged, Snape saw that he was right. Though her back was turned to him, the deep red hair was gleaming in the candlelight like they dying embers of a once brightly burning flame. She was wearing it up in a French knot that revealed the back of her graceful neck, and Snape felt that he would have given his left hand just to be able to touch it with his right.

_What the hell is Potter playing at, getting stoned and leaving her all alone like this? Merlin, can't she see that he doesn't deserve her?_

Closing his eyes with frustration, Snape realized that he was faced with a bit of a dilemma. Actually it was more than a little dilemma, it was a real _problem_ and he didn't know what to do. On the one hand, if he didn't hurry up to Slughorn's office to turn James in, the Head Boy might return to the Common Room and escape all punishment. On the other, this could be his chance… a chance to finally fix things with Lily, and maybe even convince her that she was with the wrong boy. After all, Snape was all but certain that no one could ever love her more than he did. Feeling utterly torn, he opened his eyes and gazed at Lily one more time. She had stopped crying and was gazing sadly at a rather large cauldron at the front of the room, hands clasped. Although he could only see a thin crescent of her face, in the torchlight, Snape was struck breathless by just how beautiful she was.

And suddenly, he knew exactly what he needed to do.

*""*

Alright, that was definately my favourite chapter so far =D

Hope you enjoyed it too - and remember to review!


	4. Unlikely Allies

James had always said that there was no feeling in the world quite like flying –save that rush he got when Lily smiled at him – and this was never truer than when he raced alone through the halls of Hogwarts on his Silver Arrow. Remus, the _still_ shirtless Sirius and Geeta had all been with him just minutes prior, but his need for speed got the better of him, and he had accelerated so madly that they couldn't keep up if they tried.

Laughing uncontrollably, he soared out of the hallway he was in and into the open space of the Grand Staircase. Some of the other Gryffindor boys had transformed this area into the ultimate water- balloon fight arena by attaching massive bags of the wet ammunition along all of the railings, and they were currently chasing each other around and hurling them everywhere while dodging the moving stairs, an angry Peeves and each other. They swerved madly, horrifying the many portraits on the walls and narrowly missing concussions, and James couldn't help but wonder why he had never tried this before.

Then, all of a sudden, he heard a loud shout coming from the bottom of the staircase: "_Potter_! Come down here _immediately_!"

_Was that a Prefect? No, they don't have duty tonight: I do. That means that it must have been… a __**Professor**__. Aw sweet diddle, no! I'm for it now…_

Swallowing hard, James prepared himself for the trouble that he was almost certainly in, when he heard a very familiar bark of laughter coming from below him. James looked down, and was completely taken aback when he saw Sirius laughing his arse off and pointing to the person standing at the bottom of the stairs, "Don't worry, James! It's just _Snivellous_."

He was right. Severus Snape's small figure was staring up at James from the bottom steps, looking rather torn about something. "Whaddya _want_, Snape?" James called down, trying his best to keep his words from slurring, " 're you, like, _lost_?"

Snape felt his blood boil: Potter was acting even more stupid than he usually did. "No, Potter, I am _not_ lost. Now I know this will be difficult for you, but I need you to _try_ and stop behaving like an utter moron for a moment and come down here."

"_Snaaaaape_!" James whined, inducing an eyeroll from the afore mentioned boy, "Why are you always so _mean_ to me?"

Noticing his friend's distress, the completely wasted Sirius instantly took his side in the argument: "Hey James, let's _dungbomb_ the slimeball! Just this once? _Pleeeaase_?"

But something about how Snape was looking at him prompted James to say, "… Naw, Pads. I think I'm just gonna see what he wants."

Siirus shrugged, "Suit yourself mate. But before you go – "

_SPLASH_!

James was taken completely by surprise as his best friend grabbed a water balloon from a nearby bag and threw it right in his face. He had been about to try and punch Sirius in the nose when the latter quickly explained, "I spiked the balloons with an awakeness draft earlier, you know, to keep the boys from accidentally slamming into walls and things, but you were too fast to get hit by any. And if any of us need an awakeness draft right now, it's _you_, mate."

"Aw thanks! I love you, mate!"

"I love you too, mate."

They embraced mid-air. Then, feeling somewhat dizzy, James murmered, "You... just made that awakeness draft thing up, didn't you Padfoot."

"Perhaps."

*""*

When James landed and dismounted his broom next to Snape, he wasn't sure what to expect. But there was no way in hell that he would have even been able to foresee Snape saying, "Potter, what the hell do you think you're _doing_? What kind of a boyfriend are you?"

James blinked at him, completely at a loss: "_What_? Hang on… Snape, are you drunk _too!_?"

"_No_, Potter, and you shouldn't be either."

The spectacled boy rolled his eyes, "Sorry, _Professor_ – won't happen again. But you know what? I'm the _Head bleeding Boy_, diddle it all, and I think that, when I diddle _feel_ like it, I'm _entitled_ to act like a complete, _diddling_-"

Snape sighed, "Potter, will you just _shut up_ for a moment?"

"Why?"

"If you will just _listen_, I'll tell you: I just saw _Lily_ sitting in the dungeons, all dressed up and alone, and…" He paused momentarily, a pained expression crossing his face, "And she was crying. If that means nothing to you, Mr. Head bleeding boy, then you can go back to your little game, but _if_ you give a damn, you can come with me."

_What?_

Stunned, James found himself unable to speak. Then, his mouth suddenly dry and his voice hoarse, he said, "Snape, I… Of _course_ I give a damn. I can't believe that I forgot all about…." He trailed off as it occurred to him exactly what the greasy haired boy was doing. Here Snape had a golden opportunity to prove to Lily that James was a complete git, and he was passing it up. Unable to resist, James found himself blurting, "But Snape, why didn't you – "

The Slytherin interrupted him - "_Because_, Potter, as much as it kills me to say it, it's _you_ she needs right now, not me. I know because she was… she was sitting in the spare potions room where you saved her from me. So you had _better_ wizen up and start treating her better, or I swear on the _Dark Mark _that I will spend the rest of my life hurting you in every possible way I can and as badly as I can."

James was taken aback. Never in his wildest dreams had he imagined that Snape cared for Lily so much… he could almost see his own love for her reflected in the other boy's gloomy eyes. For a moment, it struck him as odd that he and Snape could hate each other _so much_ despite their mutual love for the same person… but then he remembered everything else that Snape was. A selfish monster who had been willing to kill hundreds of students for his own gain.

But still, at this one moment in time the two of them wanted the exact same thing: for Lily to feel better again. So, setting his jaw, James nodded at Snape, "Alright. Where is she."

*""*

Lily had been drying off her tears and feeling rather ashamed of how silly and sentimental she was acting when she heard a voice coming from the doorway, "Lily… are you in here?"

She turned to face the intruder, and saw a very concerned looking James, "Yeah… I'm back here."

Moments later he was sitting on the desk across from hers, asking, "Can I join you?"

She smiled a little bit as she said, "You already have."

James smiled back and reached out to take his girlfriend's hand, "Alright, then, what's the matter?"

For some reason, this simple question seemed to agitate Lily. She snatched her hand back from James and narrowed her eyes at him, "I'm _fine_, James. I don't _always_ need you to come and rescue me, you know."

James was taken completely aback, "_What_?"

"You heard me," she said coldly, "I don't need you to play my knight in shining armour today."

James blinked. Then, "Er, Lily? _What_'re you on about? I've only really rescued you _once_. Besides, if you hadn't rescued me back right after, neither of us would be here right now."

"That was _not_ the only time you saved me," Lily snapped back at him, the furious spark in her green eyes reminding him of old times and rather frightening him at the same time, "You freed me from Petunia's engagement party, you came to my rescue on the train ride here this year – remember? – and you're _always_ there for me when I need you. _Always_."

As she spoke, James felt his eyebrows rising higher and higher, "But Lily, don't you _want_ me to – "

She didn't let him finish: "And let's not forget the _ultimate_ rescue, shall we? You saved me from being a boring, _pompous_, self-absorbed know it all who didn't know how to have any fun."

"Oh, Lily, you were never – "

"Shut _up_, Potter, I absolutely was." Lily cried, her tears starting up again, "Like you said, there was 'no one in the whole _bloody castle'_ who was more stuck up than me. But you changed that… I mean, I didn't know how to _live_ until you showed me how, you absolute _prat_!"

_What the __**diddle**__ am I supposed to say to that?"_

James had never been more utterly baffled in all his life, mumbling, "I… _er_… oh?"

Lily didn't seem to notice though, as she was too busy crying into her palms. So James just gave up on saying anything, moving to sit beside Lily and wrap his arms around her. For almost an entire minute she ignored this and remained stiff, then she finally gave in and leaned in to his embrace, crying into his night green dress robes.

As she cried, she whispered something softly… something James only _just_ managed to catch: "_What_ am I going to do without you…"

He practically jumped back from her in shock. Then, he grabbed her by the shoulders, "Hang _on_, is _that_ what this is about? Lily, I'm not, I mean, we'll… _where_ do you think I'm going?"

"Not just you," she whispered softly, "_All_ of us. We'll be going our separate ways now, don't you see? We've reached the end of the road: ."

James still didn't understand her misery, "Leaving here, yeah, but not leaving _each other_. I mean –"

"I'm going to be going back home to the _muggle world_, James." Lily said in a stronger voice, "It'll be nothing like Hogwarts: I'll be the only witch for miles! And I'll have to attend my sister's wedding, soI'll be cut off from all of you for at _least_ a month: Tuney won't rest until I've promised to keep all of my magical friends away from the house while she's still there. And Geeta and Alice will be too busy with their new jobs and training to see me anyway. And after that… Even if I _do_ get into the Auror training program I'll never see them. And you? You'll be off in your magical mansion with Sirius, and all of those rich magical daughters of your parent's friends you always mention, and who's to say you won't forget _all_ about – "

"_Lily_!" James practically shouted, "You're acting _ridiculous_! You don't actually think that any of that stuff is actually going to happen, do you?"

"Well even if I _am_ exaggerating a little," Lily shouted back, "you _know_ that things will never be the same again! James you don't know what it's _like_ living with a sister who can't stand the sight of you, and parents who can't do anything but try to ignore it when she tells you _just_ how much she hates you."

"Lily, I–"

"To tell the truth, James, living with them always made me sort of jealous of you – it was another reason why I always hated you. I mean, you've got this _beautiful_ manor in an all wizarding community where you can fly down the street on a broom without anyone batting an eyelash, but for me it's different. When I'm at my house, it's like I've got to hide half of who I am just to fit in, and the only place I've ever felt _truly_ free is right here. But it all ended so fast! Hogwarts was my _home_, James, and I just don't know what I'm going to do without it."

There it was. The real reason why Lily had been feeling miserable all night. She looked at James with large, lost green eyes and he just couldn't stand it, "Stay with me," he blurted before he could think the words through.

This surprised the misery right out of Lily, "What?"

James swallowed, "Look, Lily, I know that letting go of this place will be hard for you, it's going to be pretty hard on all of us but it's not gonna _be_ like before, I won't let it be. You will _never_ be alone in the muggle world again, alright? I'll visit you, for one thing, so often that you get sick of me, and I'll get my dad to permanently connect your house to the Floo network, and if you want," he paused, running a nervous hand through his hair, "If you want, you could stay at my place for a while – we've got _loads_ of room and Sirius is staying with us as well. And then, after we're both in Auror training together, we could find ourselves our _own_ flat, I mean, that'll be after I've – "

Lily cut him off, "Don't get ahead of yourself Potter." He looked up at her, surprised at her stern tone, and realized that she was smiling at him. He grinned back and wiped the last tears from her cheeks with his sleeve, "Sorry," he said rather sheepishly, "I reckon that was the alcohol talking,"

Lily laughed, and pulled him in for a warm hug, "I hope not. Because if that's what the future has in store for us then I'm going to be one happy witch." James hugged her back, just relieved that she had finally stopped crying, when without warning she grabbed his collar, yanked him down to her height and began roughly kissing him.

Time stopped and James blissfully surrendered to her, her fingertips tangling in his untidy locks and his arms wrapping warmly around her waist. He couldn't remember a time when she had kissed him with such… _fervor_. In seconds she had him pressed up against the nearest wall, and one of her hands somehow slipped under his shirt to stroke his bare stomach with the other still lost in his mess of hair. Then she was dropping a hot, wet kiss the junction between his neck and jaw, and gliding her lips –and _tongue_? - down to his collar bone, and sucking, and grazing him with her teeth and… "Oh, Merlin…"James moaned, "_Merlin_…"

He was in heaven. _Pure_ heaven. But then, just as suddenly as it began, Lily's attack ended. She pulled back from him grinning, and breathless as he was, James was unable to keep from grinning back, "_Diddle_, Lily, you can't just spring that on a bloke! I mean, I thought _I_ was the drunk one here."

Lily laughed, taking his hand and pulling him towards the door, "You _are:_ I was taking advantage of you."

James raised an eyebrow, "Evans, you don't know what you're talking about."

But she only laughed again, "Not at all – I just decided it would be _unfair_ of me to go any further after you came to my rescue again. Now come _on_ – let's catch the end of that party."

James pouted, "Do we _have_ to? I think I'd rather just stay here and let you prove that you really _do_ know what taking advantage of someone means."

His pleas fell on deaf ears, though, and despite him making more than a few attempts to pull Lily into various broom cupboards on their way back, the couple returned to the chaos that was the NEWT party.

*""*

There, a nice long chapter =]

Thanks for reading!


	5. Oh, Honey

It was around noon the following day when the first Gryffindor NEWT students finally started to wake up… and when they did, they found their common room floor carpeted in gobstones, cushions, bludgers, empty chocolate frog and Bertie Bott's beans boxes, an assortment of wine and potion bottles, high-heeled shoes, water balloons, passed out students and the list went on. Thankfully, a hoard of house elves was already in the room, armed with their ability to perform industrial-strength cleaning spells and massive garbage bags. There was also an elf wandering around carrying a massive tray containing little shot glasses of hangover-antidote spiked pumpkin juice, for anyone who was interested. And James Potter certainly was.

He woke with his tie wrapped around his forehead, one of Lily's strappy black shoes in his hand, his shirt unbuttoned and most confuzzling of all was the fact that all of his hair – eyebrows and stubble included –was now snow white. Not entirely certain that he would be able to fix it without charming himself bald, James grabbed some pumpkin juice and began to scan the room for Remus or Lily.

He found her curled up in an armchair by the fire, her previously neat hair in a loose wine-red tangle and she was hugging the dark green dress robes that James had been wearing over his shirt to her chest,. For a moment, James deliberated on not waking her. Then he caught a glimpse of his new look reflected in a broken bottle on the floor, and reconsidered.

"Lily, wake up. Lily, it's noon…" he whispered in her ear, gently shaking her. Her impossibly green eyes fluttered open. She looked at him for a moment, not quite awake, and then she smiled at him. It was a soft and beautiful, if rather sleepy looking smile, and she reached up to touch his snowy hair, "Oh, honey. Is this what I have to look forward to when we get older?"

James rolled his eyes, "Oh, shush. Can you put it right?"

She shrugged, "I don't know. Besides, I kind of like it this way. It makes you look… distinguished. Sort of like Dumbledore, or Einstein, or _Merlin_, or -"

"Lily…"

"Alright, alright!" Lily surrendered, pulling out her wand and aiming it at James's head. She murmured something, and he felt a light breeze flow from her wand and towards him, ruffling his hair and caressing his skin as it passed.

"There. You're tall dark and handsome again." Lily giggled as James hurried over to the window to check out his new reflection. "Merlin, Potter, I'd no idea that being beautiful was so important to you."

"It's not," James reassured her, once he was certain that no white patches remained, "I just want to look good for you."

"How noble," Lily snickered, rolled her eyes.

"Isn't it though?" James replied, with a little flourish. Then he bent down to gently kiss Lily on the nose, "By the way, I think that this _definitely_ qualifies for saving me: I hate color change charms."

She blushed, just as she always did when he showed signs of affection for her in public, "No problem. Just returning the favour for last night I suppose."

Last night? What is she on about?

James frowned for a split second, the hid it and nodded, pretending that he knew what she meant, "Oh, that. Of course."

Lily wasn't fooled for a second, "You don't have a clue what happened last night, do you."

"No," he admitted. "Although I seem to recall something about _water_ balloons…"

James looked down into Lily's disappointed green eyes, and was suddenly struck by a thought, "Hang on… Lily, last night, did we…well, you _know_…?"

Confused, Lily raised an eyebrow, "I do?"

Shifting from foot to foot uncomfortably, James tried again, "What I mean to say is, did we, er… do…. the thing?"

Finally, Lily caught his meaning:

"Yes." She replied shortly, "We did. We did it over and over until you passed out, drunk."

For a moment, just a moment, James's felt his world flip upside down. But then he saw the teasing in Lily's eyes and it righted itself, "Lily Evans, you are a diddle _liar_!" he exclaimed, pulling her out of the couch and tackling her to the floor as she burst into giggles, "Merlin, I can't believe I fell for that."

"Neither can I, Prongs," said another voice coming from behind James. Still on the ground with Lily in his arms, James looked up to see Sirius. To his relief, although the handsome boy was snickering at him, Sirius was also looking rather more sane than he had the night before.

"By the way, Lily," Sirius added, "that 'last night' gag was beautifully done: you've made me proud."

She rolled her eyes but smiled, "Gee, thanks Sirius."

"Anytime, love, anytime. Now… have either of you two lovebirds seen my _shirt_?"

"Not since you charmed it into a butterfly"

"Have you seen my wand, then?"

"Er, sorry, but no."

"How about the boxers I was wearing? The black pair with little stars?"

"_What_?"

*""*

The subsequent week passed so quickly that when graduation day finally arrived it seemed to take everyone by surprise. For Lily, it felt as though a sort of haze - consisting of packing, completing her final Head duties to prepare for graduation, and reorganizing her notes - had fallen over her. When she awoke from this state of the doldrums, she was somehow sitting in the great hall with the rest of the graduating class, wearing her full Hogwarts uniform for what would likely be the very last time. As Head Girl, she had a seat in the front row beside James, and he had gently taken her hand at the start of the ceremony and was gently squeezing it now to reassure her. But she didn't need it: Lily felt nothing but accomplishment, gratitude and pride as she sat under the hall's sunny magical ceiling with her closest friends.

At present, some Ministry wizard was making a speech on the importance of education and how wonderful it was that they had all managed to come so far, but not even Dumbledore seemed to be paying him too much attention. Still, everything was going quite smoothly… until the wizard finished and Professor Dumbledore took his place at the front of the hall, to start calling the student's forward. It was then that a loud, deep, booming voice that seemed to come from the ceiling itself began to speak:

"Attention, graduating students of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry," it thundered grandly, "This is the voice of the all mighty, Prodigious, Ultra Sexy, _Hogwarts Newt_! And as your supreme ruler, my snotty little NEWT monkeys, it is _my_ duty to ensure that everything happening here today is up to snuff!"

The authoritative voice went on, "Now normally, little pawns, I allow the _professors_ to tend to your many, many issues, but this year I decided that some of you were so decidedly repellant, horribly _putrid_ and all around diddling awful that intervention was necessary. So: I hereby decree that any NEWT students who are complete and utter _gits_ will not be eligible to graduate without first paying homage to me. That is all."

The Grand Hall remained silent as everyone waited to see if the 'Newt' would continue, but it was clearly not inclined to elaborate. So, Dumbledore cleared his throat and raised his hands to reclaim everyone's attention. "Well," he said with a small smile, "if there are no further interruptions to be had – it is time for the presentation of this year's graduating students!"

A collective cheer rang out, and Professor McGonagall took her place at the front of the room with an enormous scroll of names in hand. It was pure déjà vu, for most of the graduating class: the entire set-up was reminiscent of their very first moments at Hogwarts. Only this time, they were not waiting to be sorted and start their Hogwarts lives… instead, they were waiting to make their final stand at the school which for so many of them, had become a cherished second home. It was time to say goodbye.

"Albert Abbot." McGonagall called out loudly. Said wizard stood up, unable to keep the wide grin from his face, and walked up shake McGonagall's hand. And James couldn't be sure… but ol' Whiskers just might have smiled back at him. Then he continued to the stage to shake a beaming Professor Dumbledore's hand as well, and to collect a rolled up piece of parchment wrapped in a silken black ribbon.

Then, "Baker, George Baker," was called up, and the ceremony continued. In fact, it continued without event until one, "McNair, Robert McNair," was called to the front. He walked up, shook McGonagall's hand and then started to slouch towards Dumbledore to get his diploma… but then, most inexplicably, he found himself unable to proceed. It was as if there was a completely invisible, completely impenetrable barrier between Dumbledore and the bemused looking Slytherin. After bumping into it a few times and finding it impossible to cross, McNair started to get rather red in the face.

Grumbling something incomprehensible, he decided that he had had enough. McNair bolted towards Dumbledore top speed, determined to break through whatever it was that inhibited him from getting his diploma like everyone else… but before he came within a foot of Dumbledore, he was thrown back by the same invisible force.

Leaping to his feet and looking somewhat deranged in his rage, McNair finally bellowed "I've had enough of this!" and pulled out his wand. The ensuing barrage of spells he fired at the invisible barrier all seemed to dissipate just inches in front of the strangely calm Headmaster's nose, and at length, the wizened wizard softly shook his head, "Mr. McNair, I'm afraid that this 'all mighty, prodigious, ultra sexy, Hogwarts Newt' seems to have made it impossible for you to attain your certificate without first completing some sort of ritual."

"What do you mean, 'impossible'?" McNair snarled, "Can't you get rid of this…. This thing?" McNair jabbed his fist towards Dumbledore, only to have it slam against the barrier and ricochet back to hit himself in the forehead.

But the headmaster only shrugged, "There are hundreds of ways to put up a wall of magic. Detecting which sort of enchantment this is would take time that frankly, we don't have, Mr. McNair. So… " Dumbledore paused and turned to face the graduating class, "I believe it would be prudent for the prodigious Newt to reveal exactly what Mr. McNair has to do to get past."

There was a brief pause, then the booming voice of the Newt was heard again, "Very well, Headmaster, I will explain: it is a true shame that this trollish-boy is being granted the honor of graduating from these hallowed halls, so he, in turn, must feel shame. Does he accept these terms?"

"What terms?" The Slytherin boy asked, looked baffled.

"DOES HE ACCEPT THESE TERMS!?"

The voice came so loudly and suddenly that McNair (along with half of the graduating class) almost jumped out of his skin, "Alright! _Alright_! Whatever you want!"

"Good." The 'Newt' sounded appeased, but nothing happened.

Every soul in the room waited, and just when they began to lose hope that anything of interest was going to happen, McNair started smiling. No, not smiling. Beaming.

What's more, he proceeded to raise his wand to his throat and began… to sing: His voice rang out in an amplified and somewhat out of key baritone:

Honey honey

_How_ you thrill me!

Uh huh

Honey honey

La La La La _Ooooooh_!

At this point, Muggleborns and some half-bloods in the audience who recognized the song began to cheer and sing along. The others, catching on, cheered and laughed. After all, it wasn't every day that a pure-blood supremist, Death-Eater-wanna-be sang a Muggle song and shook his hips like that.

Honey Honey

_Neeeearly_ kills me

Uh huh

Honey Honey!

Here he tore off his robe, twirling it like a lasso around his head. There were several loud whistles and even louder cheers from the graduating class, including one enthusiastic Hufflepuff who screamed, "Yeah, baby, take it off!" Naturally, she was met with a sharp glare from Professor McGonagall, who somehow managed to keep her expression stoic. Sort of.

I heard about you befo-ore!

I _wanted_ to know some mo-ore

And now I know what they mee-an

You're a dog- gone beeeeast

_Oh_! You make me dizz-zzy!

Then, just as suddenly as it had started, McNair snapped out of it. His voice trailed off… and then his eyes went wide with utter horror. He stood stalk still with his arm still in the air, seemingly frozen with disbelief.

"Mr. McNair," Dumbledore spoke softly, reminding the Slytherin that he was still waiting for him, "If you're ready, I believe that you may now step forward to collect your certificate without obstacle."

The stunned looking boy blinked, unable to come to grips with what had just happened.

"Mr. McNair?"

The Slytherin looked over to the headmaster. Then, with a strong scowl cemented on his face, he walked up to Dumbledore and snatched the certificate from his hands. And instead of taking his seat after that, he stalked past everyone and out of the great hall.

*""*

Hello all! I'm not going to make any excuses for taking forever: all I'll say is that first year sure is more hectic than I expected it to be!

As for the story, the next chapter should be the very last. Hope you enjoyed it =]


	6. Finality

McNair's little stunt was met with general sniggering, but the graduating class was silenced by a reproving glare from Professor McGonagall and by the next student in line walking up to get her certificate.

But all too soon it was Mulciber's turn to step forward. Nearly everyone in the crowd had guessed, by now, that the mysterious, 'all mighty, prodigious, ultra sexy, Hogwarts Newt' was the creation of a certain group of unruly Gryffindor boys and as such, that Mulciber was the next target. Sure enough, as he slouched towards Dumbledore to get his diploma, with a great scowl already in place, the Slytherin found his path obstructed by the same invisible force-field that McNair had encountered.

"Well, well, well!" The booming voice of the Hogwarts Newt began, sounding almost gleeful, "You're a _really_ nasty piece of work, aren't you? I can see your mind, and it's making me nauseous."

Mulciber's scowl intensified, "What are you, the bleeding sorting hat?"

"The sorting hat is not bleeding, silly boy, it is in perfect health. But enough stalling! Are you prepared to pay tribute or not?"

Now, I could describe to you in great detail exactly what happened after that: how irate Mulciber was, and how stubbornly he tried to resist the Newt's powerful magic. But to be honest, all you really need to know is this: by the time he was through, Mulciber thoroughly regretted wearing his lucky unicorn adorned boxers that day. Well that, and that he did _not_ look good blonde.

And the crowd went simply wild: the Death Eater Wanna-Be's had horrified and tormented almost _everyone_ in the hall at some point, and by this time they all everyone knew that they were the terrorists who had been responsible for what had happened to Heather Mallory. So, no one felt any pity when the next one in line had to perform _I'm a little teapot_ in an operatic falsetto. Or when the one after that suddenly realized that he was _not_, in fact, a Hogwarts graduate, but a duck… and that he had been waiting his entire life to gather the courage to proclaim it to the world. By quacking, of course. Quacking, flapping his arms and shaking his tail-feathers.

Finally, the only Slytherin left was Severus Snape, who – understandably - looked somewhat uncomfortable when his name was called. Ever so slowly, he got up out of his chair and trudged towards Dumbledore. He kept his eyes fixed on the ground as he strode, dreading the humiliation that waited ahead, which is why he didn't realize that he had walked right through where the barrier should have been until he bumped into the headmaster.

"_What_?" Snape snapped, jumping back from the white beard he had just run into, "But _how _could… I mean, sorry, Professor." Snape was usually good at concealing his emotions from the world, but the dark eyes that met Dumbledore's twinkling blue ones revealed clear bewilderment.

Nothing? Potter and Black had been after his life for seven years, and now…. _Nothing_?" Snape couldn't – didn't – believe it. There had to be some sort of trick.

As he shook his headmaster's hand and took his certificate, he looked out to the first row of seats where the Head boy and girl sat. Lily wasn't looking his way, but James gave him a small nod and smile. And as much as he hated to admit it, it was at that moment that Snape realized… there was no trick. Potter was simply paying him back for last night, because he was a decent bloke.

Snape made a silent resolution that day, that he had had _enough_ of this animosity. After graduation, he would continue on the path he was on and let Lily and Potter do whatever they chose - and if they stayed out of his way, he would stay out of theirs. Then _perhaps_, Snape thought, swallowing hard, he'd even be able to move on one day.

*""*

The final student had collected his diploma and sat down, and Dumbledore took his place in front of the flying-eagle podium to say farewell.

"First of all, I would like to apologise to the students who were subjected to the 'Newt's wrath today," he began with a small smile, "A person's graduation day is meant to be a celebration, not a punishment, and while some of the performances were somewhat entertaining… the cost may have been a tad too high."

At this, Lily shot her boyfriend a glare that was somehow reproving and said 'I-told-you-so!' all in one. He shrugged.

"However, we must always remember that things do not always happen the way we plan for them to. For instance, when I was your age I had no idea that I would become a Professor – in fact, I doubt that the idea would even have appealed to me. And when I first beheld you all, looking just as nervous and thirsty to learn as every other set of eleven year olds I had ever seen, I could never have imagined just how strong and proud you would turn out to be, or how attached I would become to you."

The audience applauded, and Sirius whistled.

Beaming, Dumbledore looked around at the seventeen year olds before him, "You are all a credit to this school, and I would like to take this opportunity to formally thank you for giving us staff the pleasure of getting to know you over the past seven years. You were children when you came to Hogwarts, but are now fully grown witches and wizards who we are honored to know. Congratulations, graduating class of 1977!"

Their Headmaster concluded by throwing his hat high up in the air, and clapping enthusiastically. The other professors -while somewhat confused as to why Dumbledore had tossed his favourite hat away - rose and joined the applause as the graduating students stood up and threw their caps. Sirius even thought that he saw McGonagall wiping a small tear.

Then, over the sounds of the cheering and stomping, the voice of the all mighty, prodigious, ultra sexy, Hogwarts Newt thundered out, "Congratulations, punks: You're _legal_ now! So get the heck out of here and have a DIDDLE AWESOME LIFE!"

No sooner had the voice stopped, then every window in the Great Hall promptly exploded – and almost everyone in the room jumped clean out of their skins "Holy HIPPOGRIPH!" "What the bloody SNORKRACK?" "WHAT IN THE NAME OF _MERLIN'S PET RABBIT_?"

The panes shattered instantaneously, with a deafening _CRASH_ , into a glittery powder that fell all over the room. It looked almost like fairy dust as sunlight from the now empty window frames streamed through it, and sounds from the lovely summer afternoon taking place outside were suddenly vividly audible: birds chirping, the warm breeze blowing, the black lake rippling, the soft hooting of wandering owls, and the myriad of rather disturbing noises that came from the forest. The Hogwarts grounds beckoned for the last time.

Then, with almost perfect timing, a barrage of brooms flew in through the empty windows and to the waiting students. And they knew how to take a hint: Geeta elbowed her way towards the nearest pile of Silver Arrows, pulling Alice and Remus in tow, and Remus grabbed hold of Sirius who waved to James up at the front of the room to catch his attention.

He had been about to wave back when Lily pulled his arm back down, glaring, "James! What on Earth is going – Oh!" Unfortunately, her train of thought was cut off by James picking her up wedding style, and carrying her through the crowd to where their friends were.

"Bloody Hell, where did you guys get all these brooms?" Geeta asked, as she inspected the nearest one.

Sirius shrugged as he hurried to grab another, "They're not exactly real: we just collected a bunch of branches from the forest, transfigured them to look like real brooms using a modified duplication spell – "

"We used our own brooms for models" James chimed in, to explain, "But it was still some ruddy _difficult_ casting."

"Yeah, it's a good thing that James and I happen to be transfiguration prodigies. Now shall we get going? Daylight's burning!"

"Not to mention the fact that the professors look like they're on their way over here…"

"Good point – _Fly_, you fools!"

And with that, they took off through the nearest windows to enjoy the day ahead.

*""*

The Gryffindors spent their afternoon outdoors, starting out by tossing a few Quaffles around the deserted Quidditch pitch. James had spent quite a bit of time helping Lily improve her flying and catching abilities after they had gotten together, and now she could almost hold her own against the others… _almost_.

Next they flew over to the little hollow of trees by the black lake - their favourite hangout since their very first week at Hogwarts. When it became close to dinner time and the girls wanted to leave, the Marauders only chuckled and began to levitate what seemed like very large baskets from the tree-tops where they had been concealed. Inside was a picnic fit for the all mighty, prodigious, and ultra-sexy, Hogwarts Newt himself – courtesy the ever eager to serve house elves.

But the very best part of that final day had to be the very end, when they grabbed their brooms and flew to the top of Astronomy tower to watch the sun set on their time at Hogwarts. Unfortunately, they arrived at the tower a good hour early:

"Well done, Moony – it's not _time_ yet!" Sirus complained the moment they touched down, "We were supposed to arrive here just as a diddle beautiful, _movie style_ sunset filled the sky, and then we'd cut to the credits and be done with it. There's nothing special about an _almost_ sunset!"

His words were emphasized by him violently chucking his broom across the balcony they had landed on. Then he turned from his friends to lean on its railing and look out on the grounds

Remus sniggered, moving to stand beside the dark haired boy, "Well, I apologise most sincerely for ruining the romantic finale you had planned, Padfoot… but unless you know a fast forward spell, we're just gonna have to wait."

"Ah yes, _time_…." James spoke in a grand tone, joining his friends by the railing, "The fourth dimension and the only one left unconquered by our kind. Perhaps one day we will be able to master it and the laws of physics entirely… but at present we must be content to –"

"Alright, _alright_!" Sirius interrupted, "We'll wait. Just… stop talking Prongs, _please_. You're starting to sound like _Evans_."

"I'll take that as a compliment," The red head chimed in as she and the girls finished neatly stacking their brooms, "But I feel compelled to point out that as we can already travel backwards in time via time-turners, we already _have_ conquered the fourth dimension."

Remus grinned, "Point for Lily."

"Thank you." She bowed with a flourish. Just then she felt a hand take hers from behind and start pulling her from the group…

She abruptly yanked her hand away from the offender, and cried out in protest, "What are you doing, James? I want to stay here and watch the sunset!"

"Le gasp!" Sirius exclaimed, whirling on James as well, "_Prongs_! Were you trying to _leave_ us? Sneak off on your own on our last day together? That has _got_ to be a betrayal of the highest degree!"

Sirius turned to look at James sternly, "What d'you say, Remus? Is that a violation of the Marauders code?"

Remus cocked an eyebrow, "We don't _have_ a code."

"Details, details," Sirius said, brushing Remus aside, "What's the penalty? _Keel-hauling_?"

"How about a time out?" James suggested, slipping his arm around Lily's waist, "With her?"

Sirius shot James a pitying look, "Oh Prongs, whatever happened to bros before h– "

"_Padfoot_!"

"before, er… _Lily_? Bros before Lily, that's what I was going to say." Sirius gave a decisive nod.

Lily raised an eyebrow, "Of course."

"So you agree with me then!" Sirius beamed, "Excellent! See Prongs, even _she_ agrees – Bros before Lily."

James shook his head, "No such rule, mate."

"Fine then," Sirius shrugged, "But… be back here before sunset or I'll set the werewolf on you."

Rolling his eyes, James began to respond, "Yeah, sure you – "

But he was cut short by Lily grabbing his hand and pulling him towards the stairs to the lower level, calling over her shoulder with a grin and brandishing her wand as she went,

"No you _won't,_ Mr. Black– not if you value Moony's life. Ta!"

And then she pulled James down the steps the floor below, and out of sight. Geeta, who had been oddly quiet as she gazed out over the Quidditch pitch, Hagrid's hut and Forbidden Forest, finally spoke: "Well, if James is turning into Lily… a least he's turning her into a replacement."

*""*

Once they were along, Lily finally had a chance to say what had been on her mind all day:

Turning on him, she put her hands on her hips, "Alright, I knew that you lot were up to _something_, but this was, I mean... I'm a little _teapot_?"

"You are? Merlin, Lily, I've known you for seven years and you never told me."

"Potter…" Lily said warningly, but he only smiled and pulled her into his arms, "Yes dear?"

"What happened to being a good Head Boy? To setting a – "

" - good example?" James asked innocently, trying not to laugh as Lily continued her crusade to properly guide their impressionable peers, "Well, Lily, to be completely honest with you, it got _boring_. Besides, you weren't complaining during the party, were you? So I suppose rule breaking is all good and well when it's in your favor?"

"_No_! I only meant to say that you didn't have to humiliate the Slytherins like that. It's never alright to pick on anyone."

"Merlin Lily, they _killed_ someone! And they almost killed _you_ too, or did you forget that?"

Lily frowned, "That doesn't make it right."

"I know, I _know_: You're right, as always," James conceded, pulling Lily in even closer, "But you've got to admit, Miss Evans, that it was diddling_ hilarious_."

"James," Lily began with a frown, "You honestly don't think that I could condone – MMmm_mm_…"

It was a kiss that could only be described as warm. Like the heady yet soft and knee-wobbling feeling of being loved and in love all concentrated into a fleeting moment… but it ended far too quickly as James gently pulled away.

"Now what were you saying, Lily?"

Her emerald eyes opened slowly, and her arms fell from their place around his neck. Looking distinctly frazzled, she said "I was… I… don't have a diddle clue."

James grinned a lopsided grin and put an arm around her, "Well then, _I'll_ say something. Are you feeling better now that it's actually over? Graduation, I mean."

The redhead shrugged, "I don't know. It hasn't really sunken in yet, that we'll be on the train for the last time tomorrow."

She leaned in to rest her forehead against his chest, "What about you, James?" Lily whispered into his shirt, "Do you think that _you're_ ready to leave all of this behind?"

"Honestly, I don't know either. "

It was only rarely that the ultra-confident James Potter sounded so unsure of himself, so Lily stepped back and smiled at him, "Well I _do_. James. If any of us are going to make it anywhere, it will be you; I'd stake my life on it."

"Don't. Because you're _definitely_ going to make it everywhere you set out to, my little prodigy. You're the smartest person I know."

Lily blushed, "That's truly flattering James, but you've got to admit that you're a tad biased. Besides, I don't know if book smarts will be enough anymore: the real world's not like school."

"Nope - there're no more diddling _exams_ out there."

"I'm still scared, James," Lily whispered, her gaze falling to the floor, "And not just about the war and leaving Hogwarts, but about the future, in general. Of growing up."

"It's nothing to be afraid of."

"I know, but I'm still afraid."

"Well…" James whispered, taking her hand, "The truth is that I am too, Lily. _Terrified_. But whenever I get too worried, do you know what gets me through it?"

"What?"

"I just think to myself – 'I may be diddle done for, but at least I've got _Lily_. _She'll_ figure something out. And she's diddle hot, too. Really, really, _steaming_ –"

"Shut _up_, you prat!" Lily reprimanded, but she couldn't help laughing along with him. As usual he had managed to make everything seem alright again. Then James leaned in to give her one last kiss before they rejoined the others. Lily didn't object, and returned it wholeheartedly – almost knocking his glasses off in the process. And when they were finished and she told him that she loved him, she meant that wholeheartedly as well.

But he only smiled as she readjusting his glasses for him, "You had _better_."

*""*

The two of them returned just in time to watch the sun set over the horizon, painting the sky with its brilliant hues. Geeta and Alice lost no time in pulling Lily over to stand with them, just as they had when they had first met the quiet redhead in first year, and Sirius practically pounced on James with a, "You're _late_, as usual, Prongs. Five more minutes and you'd have been Moon-Pie's chew toy"

"Why, is he teething?"

"No," Remus interjected, baring his teeth, "They need sharpening."

"Shhhh! Everyone," Alice whispered, "It's almost gone."

And indeed it was. A hush fell over the seven teenagers as the sun's final, almost blindingly bright red rays flooded the scene below them. For that one, glowing instant in their lives, the future completely ceased to matter. There was only that moment; the warm and comforting summer air, the breathtaking beauty before them, and the security that came from being with the people you love most.

"This is perfect," Sirius breathed softly, "Diddle _perfect_."

"For once, Padfoot," James whispered, "You're right."

Then, after nothing was left of the sun but a soft glow lining the horizon, Lily looked back at her friends and smiled:

Hogwarts wasn't her home. _They_ were.

*""*

Yes, it was long. Hope you liked it anyway =]

Lily had a little stag

little stag

little stag!

Lily had a little stag

Who's hair turned white as snow

And everywhere that Lily went

Lily went

Lily went!

Everywhere that Lily went

Her James was sure to go


End file.
